We hit the road around 6am in order to make the trek from Pittsburgh to Toronto in time for the Blue Jays 1:07 P.M. game. Looking back on the previous night, it probably wasn’t such a great idea to get the Harry Potter book because it left us feeling quite exhausted. Nevertheless, we headed up to Toronto and of course got searched crossing the border. Apparently our “going to see a Blue Jays game” story was a bit too suspicious, and I guess the border guard thought it was odd for three Americans to do such a crazy thing. Once we arrived in Toronto, I realized why—there was no one at the Toronto Blue Jays game! The picture above accurately captures the emptiness of the stadium, where huge sections of the park were just completely empty. The SkyDome, as it was originally named, is now called the Rogers Centre. It has a long and troubled history—originally built in the late 1980s, the total cost of the facility was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion dollars, and it practically bankrupted the province and government. When the stadium was completed, the city assumed a $165 million debt, which would balloon up to to $400 million by 1993—the same year the Blue Jays would win there second consecutive World Series against the Phillies. The reason for the massive debt was due to such extravagant features as a retractable roof, “state-of-the-art” video board, and the construction of the fancy hotel inside the stadium, where guests can watch the game out their window. The game itself was a quick one, with the Blue Jays coming out on top of the Mariners 1-0.


We left the Blue Jays game a little early to make sure we got to Detroit on time. Cutting across Canada, we had a slightly easier experience getting back into the country and made it just in time for the beginning of the 7pm Tigers/Royals game at Comerica Park. Tonight both teams were wearing Negro League jerseys as part of a tribute over the weekend series. Comerica Park was sold out due to the fact that it’s an awesome ballpark, the Tigers are in first place, and there were fireworks scheduled for after the game. The Tigers offense was out in full effect—Placido Palanco (former Phillie) and Craig Monroe both hit homers for the Tigers, and Magglio Ordóñez and Gary Sheffield both had multi-hit nights. However, Todd Jones blew yet another save to send the game into extra innings. Sure enough, the Tigers offense bailed him out—Brandon Inge hit a 2-run walkoff homer to save the day. The place went wild, and as a reward all fans could use their ticket to get a Little Caesars Pizza for just $1. Tonight was Mike and Suresh’s last game on the Tour for a little while, so here is a quick but entertaining interview: